How to calculate freelance rates more efficiently

The one question that most freelance designers have trouble answering is, “what is your time really worth?” If you’re a full-time employee at an agency, your salary takes into consideration business costs like healthcare, licensing, taxes, and other business essentials. But when you work for yourself, you’ve got to cover all of that and more with your freelance rates.

You want to be fair to the client, but also want to yourself; your freelance rates should make you a reasonable profit. It’s never fun to finish a freelance project and realize you lost your shirt over it.

Not to worry, though. Business designer and brand strategist Chris Do, who founded The Futur, has created some career advice for designers. Chris, who previously shared how to price logo designs, is back with several ways to calculate freelance rates more effectively.

In this open slide deck by Chris, he reveals the different ways freelance designers can effectively calculate their rates. There are three ways to go about it. You can charge by the hour, by the project, or by comparison with the first two being the most common methods.

Scroll through the deck below for helpful tips on better managing your freelance rates. Or you can try this online calculator to help generate pricing estimates based on 5 simple questions.

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Daniel Swanick has been working as both a freelance and in-house Art Director / Senior Graphic Designer in the Greater Toronto Area for over ten years. He looks at every project from both a creative and strategic point-of-view to deliver engaging, conceptually driven ideas.